Frank is still sitting on the terrace of Freddy's, enjoying his first step to securing his revenge. He is off to meet part of the Democratic leadership for breakfast, where they discuss their course of action on how to handle the poorly-received education bill. They are interrupted by Remy Danton, a former press secretary-turned-corporate lobbyists, who reminds Frank that his main client, SanCorp, has heavily invested in him. Meanwhile, Doug finds something on Senator Michael Kern, President Walker's nominee for Secretary of State, but Frank refuses to use it. After leaking the draft of the education bill, Frank secures control of the legislation and lures Donald into becoming his scapegoat. Claire continues downsizing her staff at the Clean Water Initiative. Frank arranges a meeting with Zoe and hands her an editorial from a student newspaper in which Kern had denounced the Israeli occupation of the West Bank illegal. Despite reservations, Zoe and her editors decide to publish. During an interview with George Stephanopoulos, Kern is confronted with an advance copy of Zoe's article. Furthermore, Stamper manages to locate Roy Kapeniak, Kern's former co-editor of the student newspaper. Frank decides to send Russo to talk with Kapeniak, who reveals that it was actually his article, not Kern's. Russo asks him to lie about it and say that Kern wrote it. Barnes runs the story linking Kern to the editorial, ending his nomination. With everything already planned, Frank contacts Durant and has Barnes to leak the senator's name as Kern's replacement in order to fuel early media speculation. Durant leads the polls and thus wins Vazquez's and Walker's support. Frank provides subtle affirmation of the choice.
Cast
Main cast
Kevin Spacey as U.S. Representative Francis J. Underwood
The episode received positive reviews from critics. Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert noted that "the first two episodes were expertly directed by David Fincher" and Spacey's harmonious cadence such as those used in the first scene of this episode "makes even his character's mercy killing of an injured dog—which he does by hand—seem a little less brutal." Ryan McGee of The A.V. Club said, "No actor, even one as skilled and charismatic as Spacey, can maintain interest with stakes this low over the long haul. For House of Cards to move to the next level, things have to stop being easy. They have to start getting hard. If the show does that, what's merely good right now should leap into the level of greatness."
